Disinformation and Propaganda Glossary

Propaganda is an old concept. The term was first used in 1622 by the Catholics on Congregatio de propaganda de fide (Congregation for the propagation of faith). It has been used in different ways, but nowadays, it is mostly associated with disinformation.

Jowett & O’Donnell's (2013: 7) definition: ”Propaganda is the deliberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.”

Authors distinguish between white, grey, and black propaganda. They can briefly be described as follows:

Black propaganda means intentional lies. This concept resembles Wardle's concept of disinformation, fabricated and manipulated content (more about Wardle on "disinformation").

Grey propaganda may contain correct facts, but the facts are framed och presented in a misleading way. This resembles some of Wardle's categories, but in Wardle's taxonomy misinformation is not intentional.

White propaganda is pretty much any kind of openly strategic communication, such as advertising, marketing, or well-meaning campaigns like "Stop smoking." Critics, however, point out that if anything can be classified as propaganda, the concept loses its meaning. Wardle doesn't include this type of content.

The point is that strategic communication can take many different forms and be used for many different purposes. Obvious lies are easier to detect than more subtle attempts to shape perceptions or behavior. Some attempts at persuasion may be positive (for example, health campaigns), and some negative (disinformation campaigns).

Jowett, G. S. & O'Donnell, V. (2013). Propaganda and Persuasion. Sage.

Wardle, C. (2018). The Need for Smarter Definitions and Practical, Timely Empirical Research on Information Disorder, Digital Journalism, 6:8, 951-963, DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2018.1502047.

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Term	Definition
Oversimplification	Is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of an outcome when in reality it may have been caused by a number of only jointly sufficient causes. Fallacy of the single cause can be logically reduced to: "X caused Y; therefore, X was the only cause of Y" (although A,B,C...etc. also contributed to Y.) Causal oversimplification is a specific kind of false dilemma where conjoint possibilities are ignored. In other words, the possible causes are assumed to be "A xor B xor C" when "A and B and C" or "A and B and not C" (etc.) are not taken into consideration; i.e. the "or" is not exclusive. Synonyms - complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, root cause fallacy, reduction fallacy,

Term

Definition

Oversimplification

Is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of an outcome when in reality it may have been caused by a number of only jointly sufficient causes.

Fallacy of the single cause can be logically reduced to: "X caused Y; therefore, X was the only cause of Y" (although A,B,C...etc. also contributed to Y.) Causal oversimplification is a specific kind of false dilemma where conjoint possibilities are ignored.

In other words, the possible causes are assumed to be "A xor B xor C" when "A and B and C" or "A and B and not C" (etc.) are not taken into consideration; i.e. the "or" is not exclusive.

Synonyms - complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, root cause fallacy, reduction fallacy,

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